How plants become zombies

Scientists of John Innes Centre and Wageningen UR have shown how a specific bacterial parasite, causing developmental problems in crops, e.g. oilseed rape, is able to manipulate plants in such a way that they produce leaves instead of flowers. This manipulation improves the chances of the bacteria being spread to other plants, by leafhoppers feeding on those plants. The scientists were able to identify the plant proteins that the bacteria target to direct the plant into a leaf-producing organism without flowers. The plant turns into a zombie: dead to the future and destined to benefit only the survival of the bacteria.

The parasite as puppet masters

Forget popular video game Plants Vs. Zombies, some plants are zombies and scientists have uncovered how bacterial parasites turn them into the living dead. “For the first time, we can reveal how this remarkable manipulation takes place,” says Prof. Saskia Hogenhout from the John Innes Centre.

“In that sense, the plant world is ahead of animal biology - where manipulations also take place but no mechanisms have been uncovered to show how.” For example, the parasitic lancet liver fluke infects the brain of ants, compelling them to climb to the tip of a blade of grass and into the mouth of a grazing animal. This is not far from the brain-eating zombies of the video game. Another parasite is thought to change the behaviour of rats to make them more susceptible to predation.

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